


Cedar Lake Park

by prmfus



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/F, Ghosts, Gore, Haunted Forest AU, Horror, Intermittent Fluff, Provincial Park, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-12 14:17:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15341640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prmfus/pseuds/prmfus
Summary: Angela is hired as Cedar Lake Provincial Park’s resident physician. Fareeha appears to be more than just a park ranger.Something isn’t right in the forest.





	1. The Questions

"Do you remember how it happened, Robert?" Angela asked, fearing she already knew the answer.

 

The man drummed his fingers on his cargo shorts. "I tripped."

 

Angela refrained from rubbing her temples. "You tripped and experienced sudden temporary blindness?"

 

He nodded vigorously.

 

"With no other injuries?" Angela asked.

 

"I wouldn't lie to you, Dr. Ziegler. I tripped. That's all I remember."

 

These patients always looked earnest. Angela had begun to believe they certainly _thought_ they were telling the truth, regardless of the objective validity of their statements. Some of them would spout something vague and inconsistent with their injuries—“I tripped” had also been offered over isolated corneal abrasions. Others would pause for a moment before admitting they couldn’t remember how they'd gotten hurt—despite a lack of head injury.

 

She'd only been Cedar Lake Provincial Park's on-site physician for 2 weeks, but every day she spent there put her more on edge. Something was wrong, and the longer she said nothing about it the more her thoughts cycled.

 

"Your regular doctor will give you the results of your CT scan. Make sure you continue having regular check-ups," Angela said, mind elsewhere.

 

She gave him a smile as he thanked her and exited the room.

 

Angela took a long breath, smoothing some fly-aways out of her eyes. She had quit a perfectly good job as a general practitioner in the city; she’d needed the change. It had been an itching, aggravating feeling, an all-encompassing hunger for something different, but directed towards nothing specific. It hadn't mattered what changed, as long as something did.

 

This job had proved to be odd, unexpected, frustrating—but it was a breath of fresh air from that restless craving for something different she’d been carrying around with her.

 

* * *

 

 Angela knocked impatiently on the head office door. Jeffrey let her in, and Angela closed the door behind her.

 

"Something is wrong," she said, in lieu of a greeting.

 

The director put some papers inside of a file and cleared his throat. "What do you mean, Dr. Ziegler?"

 

"Half of my patients don't remember how they were injured in this park. That's highly unusual."

 

He furrowed his brows. "It's not your job to worry about that," he said.

 

"It's _exactly_ my job to worry about my patients." Angela was already frustrated. "Why would you hire me if I'm not meant to be concerned about—"

 

"I didn't hire you."

 

"I... what?"

 

"I mean—I interviewed you, yes," he said, backtracking, "but I didn't make the final decision."

 

This man constantly gave her more questions than answers. She had only known him two weeks, but already Angela had not met anyone who tested her pacifism more frequently.

 

"Then who did, Jeffrey?"

 

The man sighed. "I shouldn't have said anything in the first place."

 

Angela tried her best to conceal her frustration. "There's nothing you can tell me about this?"

 

"You're already more involved than you need to be."

 

Without another word, Angela left the office and huffed her way to the staff room. She zeroed in on Lena, clipboard in hand, likely doing inventory in the cupboards.

 

Out of all her co-workers, Angela probably talked to Lena most frequently. Along with Lucio, she was the ranger who led most of the children’s tours.

 

“Hi, Angie,” Lena said. Her smile vanished when she noticed Angela’s expression. “What’s going on?”

 

Angela glanced around the room. There was only one other person there—a woman Angela didn’t know the name of—and she appeared to be preoccupied with a sandwich. “Have you noticed any of the injuries?”

 

“The injuries?” Lena asked.

 

“Strange injuries. Patient explanations about how they were hurt never make sense, most of them experience memory loss or distortion despite no trauma to the head…”

 

Lena’s eyes widened. “Nothing’s ever happened on a guided tour. The people who go off on their own outside the main trails—that’s when things happen. I’ve had to find a few people, but I’ve never seen anything strange after finding them.”

 

Angela nodded. “Whatever this is, I don’t like it. This forest is huge. It would be so easy for someone to hide in there, prey on unsuspecting hikers—”

 

“Do you think that’s what’s happening?” Lena asked.

 

“I don’t know... I can’t figure out what someone could possibly gain from injuring and then disorienting ordinary people in the forest, seemingly at random. But I can’t think of what else it would be.”

 

Lena scratched her head. “They did a police investigation here about a year ago. Didn’t find anything, but most of us aren’t totally convinced. Keep me posted? If anything else happens.”

 

Angela nodded, eyeing Lena fiddling with the clipboard paper’s edge. “I’ll let you get back to work.” 

 

* * *

 

 Angela’s stomach grumbled. She tapped her pen on her desk absently.

 

It was after six, and she was collecting overtime trying to make a dent in a pile of paperwork. Expecting to go home at five, she hadn’t brought dinner with her, and six hours with no food was starting to hurt her focus.

 

Angela shut the wooden door of her office with a squeak. Darkness had settled over the park, though streetlamps bathed the main paths in a dull, yellow glow. It was enough light for Angela to see the staff building ahead of her, and the sounds of gravel shuffling under her feet echoed throughout the grounds.

 

She had hoped to find something in the staff room’s cupboards to sustain her for the next couple of hours. At this time of evening, especially during the winter, the room was deserted—silent save for the whirring of the fridge. Angela pulled at the knobs of the cupboards and found nothing but a dozen boxes of table salt and two unnamed bags of breakfast cereal. The former was odd; the latter would have to do.

 

After opening the fridge and rummaging through a sea of claimed items (marked so with names scrawled on masking tape), Angela managed to find a non-expired, non-claimed jug of milk. The cereal wasn’t stale, but it was verging quite close.

 

“Hi,” someone said.

 

Angela paused mid-crunch. She hadn’t heard that voice before; she hadn’t even heard anyone come in the office.

 

Angela’s plastic chair squeaked against the wooden floors as she turned around.

 

A woman leaned against the doorway, wearing the Ranger’s uniform—or at least the bottom half of it; she’d replaced the usual polo with a white t-shirt. She looked vaguely familiar, now that Angela could see her face.

 

“Hi,” Angela said, before briefly introducing herself.

 

The woman nodded. “Fareeha.” She eyed Angela’s cereal. “Hold on. I’ll be back.”

 

“Oh-okay.” Angela chewed another spoonful of cereal in mild curiosity as she waited.

 

Eventually Fareeha returned—Angela expected her to have misplaced her own dinner or something of the sort. Instead she came in carrying a large box of Honey Nut Cheerios. Fareeha placed it on the table in front of Angela. “These are fresher,” Fareeha said. “You can have these instead, if you want. I keep them in my office.”

 

Something about this rather no-nonsense co-worker Angela had never met before offering her Cheerios made Angela grin. “Well, thank you. That’s kind of you.”

 

Fareeha tipped her head in acknowledgement and walked over to the tap to pour herself a glass of water. She left the room without another word.

 

Angela wasn’t sure what to make of her, but the Cheerios were indeed fresher.

 

* * *

 

 

Lena sat perched on the staff room counter, a container of pasta balanced on her lap. Angela worked on her own lunch from a table nearby, watching Lena retrieve a box of salt from the cupboards. She eyed the bag of cereal that leaned against one of the salt boxes.

 

“Do you know anything about Fareeha?” Angela asked.

 

Lena grinned. “Does anyone?” she said.

 

Angela tilted her head in question.

 

“She’s my boss, actually,” Lena clarified. “Why do you ask?”

 

Angela furrowed her brows, filing that information away. “She just… struck me as a bit odd.”

 

 “She is kind of mysterious,” Lena said.

 

Angela quickly swallowed the last bites of her sandwich. “Do you know where she’d be now?”

 

“Probably her office. 121.”

 

“Thanks!” Angela said, exiting the staff room in a jog.

 

Fareeha’s office, on the northern side of the park’s administrative core, turned out to be a repurposed cabin, peeling green paint exposing its old maple wood. Angela stepped over the small cement staircase, on to a front porch just big enough to fit a chair. She knocked on the white door and was met with silence. Then she tried again. At three times with no response, Angela sighed. Her lunch break would end in ten minutes.

 

She decided to risk prying open the door. Unlocked, it gave way under her weight.

 

Angela blanched at the scene before her. Fareeha was out cold on her desk, head cushioned against her forearms, the room silent save for her steady breathing. The windows were lined with glass beakers, crystalized solids emerging from their bases. A bookshelf to the left of Fareeha’s desk was dotted with potted herb plants. If not for its lack of clutter, the room could have passed for the workshop of some forest witch.

 

Now feeling like a definite intruder, Angela turned on her heel and tried her best to slip out quietly. She winced from the porch when the door banged loudly against its hinge.

 

“Hello?” Fareeha’s voice travelled easily through the cabin’s old walls, sounding hoarse from sleep.

 

Angela couldn’t exactly run away now. Sheepishly she opened the door again. “Hi,” she said.

 

Fareeha blinked, a little owlishly. Angela recognized that disoriented feeling from her days in medical school. “Dr. Ziegler,” Fareeha said. “Sorry, I was… just catching up on sleep. Do you need anything?”

 

“I can come back later,” Angela said.

 

Fareeha shook her head. “No, no, it’s alright. I’m awake now.”

 

Angela nodded, swallowed. “Are you willing to tell me what you know?”

 

Fareeha was silent for a moment. “Yes,” she finally said. “I always planned to tell you—”

 

“’Always’? Fareeha, I was under the impression we met yesterday.”

 

Fareeha deflated. “You met _me_ yesterday…”

 

Angela rubbed at her eyes. Could _anyone_ give her information that didn’t just give her more questions?

 

What sounded like a fire alarm suddenly blared through the office.

 

Fareeha swore under her breath. “It’s a distress call,” she said. Any trace of tiredness had vanished from her voice. “Can you meet me back here with a first aid kit?”

 

Before Angela went off, Fareeha put a hand on her shoulder. “I promise I’ll tell you everything,” she said, the sincerity clear in her gaze. “As soon as I can.”

 

Angela ran to her office, heartrate picking up rapidly. She tried her best to control the dread that coursed through her. Whatever had caused the signal… couldn’t be good.

 

She joined together with Fareeha again—kit in hand; Fareeha had a backpack strapped to her.

 

“We set up distress buttons all over the trails,” Fareeha said. “I have the coordinates of the one that was pressed. It might not be anything serious.”

 

Angela followed Fareeha into the forest, and the trails narrowed and the trees grew thicker the longer they strayed from the ground. An hour in, Angela couldn’t tell if her sweat was from anxiety or exertion.

 

“We’re within hearing range of the coordinates. I can’t hear anything, which means things are probably either fine, or very, very bad,” Fareeha said.

 

After a couple of tense moments, Fareeha gasped in front of her. A man was lying on his back, the muscle of his arms exposed as if his skin had been forcefully torn off. Angela could see his ribs within the mess of his side.

 

Angela knelt down on the grass; his pulse was faint, but present. “He’s alive,” she said, “but there isn’t much I can do with just this kit, Fareeha.” Angela internalized any horror that rose in her. “We don’t have time to walk him back. I can wrap him up now, but he needs to get to a hospital as soon as possible.”

 

Fareeha called an emergency number, making clear the urgency of their situation, and Angela was impressed by the steadiness of Fareeha’s voice—her coolness under pressure. It had taken Angela years to curb her own natural reactions.

 

“A helicopter will be here in a few minutes,” Fareeha said, hanging up the phone and turning to watch the overcast sky.

 

There was much about Fareeha Angela didn’t know—that much was clear.

 

Angela wrapped up the man’s wounds as best as she could as they waited. If he made it to the hospital quickly, he would likely survive, but his wounds were not like anything Angela had seen in her thirteen years of practice. There were no clear claw marks; his skin had been ripped away in almost geometric patterns—eerily precise.

 

“This can’t be an animal attack,” Angela said.

 

Fareeha nodded, turning away from the horizon to look back at Angela. Some defeat had leaked into her otherwise neutral expression—a tiredness that made her look older. “I’m afraid it’s not.”

 

Angela raised her brows, and Fareeha gave her a look that said _I’ll explain later_.

 

Later turned out to be that night, after the injured man had been declared stable. A minimum of a week’s closure of the park had been announced, and police investigations were planned for the next morning. As far as Angela knew, it had been the park’s first major violent incident.

 

She had been getting ready to go home late that night when she heard the gunshot.

 

Angela took only moments to grab a first aid kit, a flashlight, and her phone. The forest was pitch black by then, coated in a thick, heavy darkness, but something almost instinctive, like muscle memory that had lay dormant—pulled Angela through. Each turn required less thought than the last.

 

Finding Fareeha alone in the middle of forest with an odd-looking gun in hand was almost more relieving than it was surprising. At least the woman was in one piece.

 

Fareeha just stared at Angela, jaw falling slack. “How the hell did you find me here?”

 

“You did fire a gunshot.”

 

“I don’t understand,” Fareeha said, furrowing her brows. “Gunshot or not, this place is practically impossible to navigate at night, let alone when you’re trying to find a moving target.”

 

“I don’t know,” Angela said, eyeing Fareeha’s gun. “But now would be a good time for that explanation you promised.”

 

Reluctantly, Fareeha’s frown dissipated, as if putting on hold whatever she’d been thinking. “Come with me,” she said, and Angela followed her to a small pit a few hundred meters away.

 

Fareeha started a fire, and it glowed starkly against the dark sky. Angela sat down on a stump beside it, close enough to feel its warmth on her shins. Fareeha eventually sat down beside her, and she looked less guarded than Angela had seen her yet—her posture wasn’t nearly as stiff, and the fire’s light brought out some warmth in her eyes.

 

“Tell me what you’d like to know,” Fareeha said, and Angela took a deep breath.

 

She had many, many questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. The Sleepover

The firelight crackled, and its flickering light cast moving shadows on Fareeha’s face. The shadows held Angela’s gaze as much as the face beneath them did.

 

_Tell me what you want to know._

 

It was a tall order. There were many questions. Maybe too many.

 

The first thing to her lips was to ask what had needed a gunshot. That meant she’d need to ask what that odd gun _was_ , though, and what had happened to whatever Fareeha had shot, and she wanted to be careful in case she only got a limited number of questions.

 

Angela’s tongue darted out over her lips as she looked back toward the fire for a moment.

 

 _“What is going on here_ is probably too big a question, isn’t it?”

 

She was somewhat relieved by the chuckle which came from Fareeha in reply. There was something weary in her smirk, and in her eyes, but some lightness as well.

 

“Might be,” she responded. “At least, for here and now.” One hand still held that odd, old-looking gun loosely by its grip, almost dangling. The other hand raised to sweep heavily over Fareeha’s face as she sighed and looked over to meet Angela’s eyes.

 

“It’s not safe out here at night,” she explained earnestly. Angela wasn’t surprised to hear it, given the wildlife that could be expected in the area, but something in Fareeha’s expression and tone made her think that it wasn’t _wildlife_ that was the concern.

 

“I get the feeling you aren’t talking about bears.” Angela frowned slightly, thinking of the most recent and most horrific injury since she’d joined. “What happened to that man who got hurt the other day?”

 

Fareeha blurted a laugh. She dropped her head forward to rest in one hand with a groan. “Of all the questions, you had to ask the one I can’t answer…”

 

She sighed, tipping her head back to look at the star-dotted sky. “Long story short, I don’t know. Could have been a lot of things. There are lots of dangers in these woods - and no,” she shook her head. “I don’t mean bears. There’s worse.”

 

A heavy frown crossed her face, looking even deeper for the fire’s shadows. “Never been this bad before though,” she muttered softly.

 

Angela took a deep breath, slowly. She let it out even slower still. “Fareeha,” her voice was quiet but firm. “Please. Tell me what you know.”

 

Fareeha’s eyes flicked over to meet hers for just an instant before departing back to the fire. “Well,” she chuckled, shaking her head. “I don’t know that you’ll believe me if I do, but… alright.”

 

The night was silent except for the fire’s soft crackling. It was calming for a moment until Angela realized just _how_ quiet it was. There were no sounds of insects or running water, no rustling leaves. No breeze. No noises at all except for the fire.

 

Not until Fareeha began to talk.

 

“My family…” she hunched forward toward the fire, setting her elbows on her knees. “They’ve lived in this area for generations. My father’s side. First Nations, going way back.”

 

Angela tried to be patient, to sit without fidgeting as the explanation came out. She was moderately successful, but had to admit she was looking forward to actual answers to the questions she had.

 

“My father, Sam, he had this position before me. Not the Park Ranger position, but-” Fareeha cut off with a frustrated noise. “I guess I should start from the beginning.”

 

Suddenly, her eyes were on Angela’s again, close and oddly intense as Fareeha turned to face her. “You know all those stories from when you were a kid? Ghosts and goblins and monsters?”

 

Angela nodded almost thoughtlessly. Her childhood hadn’t had much of the sort, but she understood the concept.

 

“They’re real. They’re all real, and in some places, they’re more prevalent.” Fareeha’s gaze held steady on her. Unblinking, and wholly sincere. More than sincere, almost urgent - as if she was pleading with Angela to believe her.

 

“This is one of those places. For generations, my family on my father’s side have been guardians of this place, keeping anything from escaping or causing too much harm. There are dangerous things in these woods. I stop them as best I can.”

 

Fareeha looked away, to the fire, and muttered something under her breath. It sounded suspiciously like _even if it doesn’t seem like it sometimes_ , but Angela couldn’t be sure.

 

The excessive silence returned to the forest as the two of them sat and looked at the fire. It was like a blanket, the silence, and it made Angela feel almost itchy like roughly-spun wool.

 

“Why am I here?” Angela didn’t even mean to ask the question, it just fell from her lips.

 

A single chuckle popped from Fareeha’s lips as she looked over in surprise. “Good question. I don’t know _how_ you found your way out here.”

 

“I didn’t just mean in the forest,” Angela shot back with a bit of humour in her tone, but she was cut off by Fareeha.

 

“No, but I did, because this isn’t just the forest, Angela.” There was something intense in Fareeha’s tone again, entreating almost. “Like I said, this place is… special. This whole Park, but some spots more than others - haven’t you noticed that there aren’t any bugs buzzing at your face? Any breezes?”

 

Angela looked around, worry suddenly taking hold in her gut. She’d been able to tell herself it was just happenstance or her imagination before, but now with Fareeha’s suddenly strenuous tone it was impossible to pretend.

 

Not that she couldn’t try.

 

“Just a calm night,” she suggested with half a laugh. “The insects are all… sleeping?”

 

It wasn’t really meant as a question, but it definitely came out as one, and Fareeha laughed at it. Her laugh seemed to fill the forest in its silence, a huge laugh right from her belly. Angela couldn’t help but join in after a while, giggling softly and hiding it partially behind a hand.

 

“No,” Fareeha explained when she had reigned in her laughter to chuckles that underlaid her words. “No, Angela, they aren’t sleeping and it isn’t just calm. The insects, the animals, the breezes - they aren’t _here_ , because we aren’t really in the forest anymore.

 

“It’s-” she sighed briefly, rubbing at her temples. “It’s hard to explain. Different realities or something, I don’t know. Dad used to say it was the spirit world, or almost. It rubs up against our world in some places like the water laps at the banks, and where it does, it leaves imprints. It leaves mud. Not water, not dirt, but something in between. We live on the land, and _they_ live in the river. We can’t cross over completely, but on the banks, we meet.”

 

It sounded like a recitation. Like something Fareeha had heard and repeated an unknown but large number of times. Then, she looked away from the fire and down to her watch which glinted silver in the light. “It’s late. We should get back.”

 

Angela frowned softly as Fareeha stood, and turned, and then offered her hand. Angela didn’t take it, not yet. She shook her head instead, her frown deepening.

 

“C’mon, Angela, I don’t want you getting lost out here. You might never find your way back, alright? It’s weird enough that you were able to find me in the first place, I’m not running the risk of you trying to find your way back alone.”

 

“You still haven’t told me why I’m here.” Angela crossed her arms, sitting on the stump with a stern expression on her face.

 

Groaning a sigh, Fareeha shook her head. “I’ll tell you more when we get back to the ranger station, okay? Just for now, take my hand and-”

 

“You can spend five minutes trying to convince me, or two simply answering me.” Angela turned her head to the side, looking deliberately away to prevent herself from being convinced by the earnest expression on Fareeha’s face and the concern clearly evident in her eyes. She knew she would be, if she kept looking - knew her resolve would crumble unless she looked away from Fareea’s face. “Your choice.”

 

It only took a few seconds for a choice to be made, Fareeha grunting softly and letting her outstretched hand clap down against her thigh. “I um, _convinced_ Jeffrey to hire you, alright? I- I don’t know, I saw your file and it seemed… important. Dad always told me to trust my gut, so I did. I can’t explain any more than that because I don’t _know_ any more than that.”

 

Angela looked back to Fareeha’s face, carefully studying her face. She had seen dozens or hundreds of people telling hundreds or thousands of lies: walk-in patients at the hospital trying to obtain drugs for purposes other than illness, students giving fabricated excuses for late assignments or missed lectures, and the more standard fare of people simply being people.

 

She’d seen plenty of lies. This wasn’t one.

 

The sternness dissolved from her expression and her pose as she leaned forward, standing and reaching to Fareeha’s side to take her free hand. “I believe you. That’s what happened on my side of things, as well. I felt like I needed a change. I just trusted my instincts, I suppose.”

 

There was a moment of stillness as Fareeha seemed to study her, to peer deep into her eyes. What she was looking for, Angela couldn’t guess at, but she hadn’t noticed quite how vivid Fareeha’s eyes were before.

 

“Interesting.” Fareeha nodded, breaking the moment’s tension as she turned away and tugged at Angela’s hand, leading back into the forest. “Now, follow closely behind me. Don’t let go.”

 

“I won’t,” Angela assured, squeezing tighter at the hand in hers. It felt like a lifeline as much as anything else.

 

She still didn’t understand what was happening, but at least she felt like _somebody_ did. It was better than nothing, and she felt safer for it. For the moment, at least.

 

 

* * *

 

  
  
“Lena.”

 

It was the first word out of Fareeha’s mouth when they got back to the ranger station, the only word she’d spoken since they left the campfire. Lena, sitting in a chair and playing solitaire with a weathered deck of cards, looked over quickly at her name.

 

“Salt.”

 

Without a delay, Lena sprang from her seat and made it to the cupboards in a single bound. She yanked one open, pulled out a box of table salt, and flung it in Fareeha’s direction.

 

She caught it one-handed, almost without looking. Her focus stayed mostly on Angela, even as she flipped out the metal spout and began to pour salt out on the floor in a line just along the bottom of the door.

 

“Doorways and thresholds will hold some things back,” she explained in a quick murmur. “Less powerful when they’ve just been opened, though. Less powerful when it’s not a permanent home, too. Salt helps keep things away.”

 

Angela nodded as if it was sensible information, because she wasn’t sure quite what else she could do. Her eyes flicked over in Lena’s direction.

 

Lena was standing there with one arm tucked behind her back, smiling sheepishly. “I was kinda supposed to see if you were open to this kind of stuff,” she admitted with a shrug. “Mention some weird stuff and, y’know, plant some seeds or whatever.”

 

“Timeline got moved up a bit though,” Fareeha added from the door. She started to trail a line of salt around the outside of the room near the wall. “If you hadn’t come out to find me tonight, then that might be one thing, but… you did. So, tonight’s the night you get to find it all out.”

 

Angela glanced from Fareeha over to Lena, who mouthed a soft _yay_ and waved her hands in joking celebration. An amused huff flew from Angela’s nose, but there was a little too much confusion to be properly entertained by the antics.

 

“Does everyone know about all this… ghost stuff, then?” Angela looked back to Fareeha, who was moving around the ranger station’s interior, checking the locks on every window as the salt continued to pour.

 

“No, not everyone. Some people know some, some know more, most don’t know anything at all. To play it safe, might be best to not mention it around anyone unless you see me or Lena talking with them first.”

 

“Sure, fine.” Angela wasn’t entirely convinced on anything yet, but erring on the side of caution made sense. She watched Fareeha double-check one lock and swap out her empty box of salt for a fresh one from one of the cabinets. “Why are you worrying so much? I thought it was just that special place, anyway. The… spritual riverbank, or whatever it was you said.”

 

Lena giggled briefly and Angela felt a little bit embarrassed for saying that, but then Lena was flashing her a look that seemed to say _oh, that old story again._

 

“Well, in theory?” Fareeha chuckled once, but it didn’t sound like she was really amused. “Yeah, for the most part. Some things still make it up this way though, occasionally. Like I said, things are getting worse and… well, I don’t really _know_ what might happen. Best to be safe.”

 

“Mm, of course,” Angela muttered, taking a seat on the couch.

 

Lena sidled over in her direction, grinning and raising an eyebrow, leaning in to speak in an almost impossibly soft voice. “So, she gave you that whole riverbank-and-mud routine, did she?”

 

“I heard that!”

 

Fareeha spun around and tossed a handful of salt ineffectually in Lena’s direction, making Lena yelp a laugh. “And it’s not just some old routine! It’s ancient knowledge of the Native Peoples of the area, so you can just shut your mouth!”

 

It didn’t sound like a real fight in any way. It was that practiced sort of bickering that friends had, teasing and ribbing, and it made Angela feel a little bit more settled. A little safer.

 

Things couldn’t be that bad if the other two were joking around, could they?

 

“That man who got attacked on the trails, the one we found, Angela,” Fareeha’s eyes stayed dedicated to the trail of salt. There wasn’t a break in it, and it ran almost all the way around this room now. “I don’t know exactly what did that to him. A ghost couldn’t be that precise, those patterns.”

 

“Yes, the patterns.” Angela frowned, trying to recall them around the general upset that her mind felt about the whole matter. She couldn’t place them, didn’t recognize them as anything specific, but they’d been very clear - that much, she could tell. It was as if they’d been measured and cut, carefully, like a surgical incision. Nothing caused by teeth or claws.

 

“...obably wasn’t any of the creatures that are around either, mundane or otherwise." Fareeha’s voice continued and Angela shook herself to pay attention to it again.

 

“What, don’t think it was a little fairy-bear?” Lena snickered and nudged Angela with her elbow.

 

“There’s no such thing as fairy-bears.” Fareeha scowled and then collapsed on the couch with a heavy sigh, resting the odd gun in her lap. “I don’t know what it was, but it’s good the park’s closed down for a little while. Hopefully it’ll give us some time to figure out what’s happening, and put a stop to it.”

 

“Before the police get here.”

 

It was Angela’s first real contribution to that topic, and it was followed by an uneasy silence as the other two looked to her.

 

“Exactly,” Fareea confirmed. _“Before_ the police get here for that investigation, because the last thing we need is a few dozen people with guns and hot heads running around these forests all day and night.”

 

One of the windows shook, suddenly, violently, drawing three sets of eyes in an instant. It shuddered as if in a gale-force wind, but none of the others did, not in the slightest. A few seconds later, the noise subsided. It sounded almost like a moan when it did.

 

Angela licked her dry lips and sat gently on the couch next to Fareeha. “So, for right now?”

 

“Right now?” Fareeha leaned her head back until it met the back of the couch. “For right now, we’re safe. The salt will keep anything out, and once the sun comes up, we can start looking for some answers. Things are getting worse…”

 

She sighed again and pressed a palm back against her forehead. “Dad used to tell stories, from his grandmother. When she was younger, things got bad, too. Mud only forms on the riverbank, but sometimes the river overflows, that’s what she’d say. Apparently. There’s always a reason, though. River doesn’t overflow for nothing - either there’s more water, or some constriction down the riverbend, a dam or something. A lake that got diverted into the flow. Something.”

 

“So the river metaphor holds true for all of that, does it?” Angela could easily hear the faint hope in her own voice, as clearly as she could feel the thumping of her heart when one of the other windows started to shake.

 

Fareeha seemed entirely unaffected by it, though, and on the edge of falling asleep with her head tipped back. “Either it does, or we’re gonna have to come up with something else,” she grunted.

 

“We’ll just… hope it works out that way then, shall we?” Lena laughed in a way that sounded a little forced and hesitant. “For tonight, we just- slumber party, yeah? It’ll be fun.”

 

Angela swallowed heavily. Something flickered in the corner of her vision, in one of the windows, and she looked over. When she did, though, there was nothing there. “Fun. Of course.”

 

“Take sleep in turns, I’d say,” Fareeha mumbled. “Other two can keep watch and have the gun in case anything goes wrong.”

 

“Why dontcha take the first sleep there, boss?” Lena suggested, and Fareeha wordlessly held up a thumbs-up in response as Lena picked up the gun from her lap.

 

Angela shuffled over closer on the couch, looking at the weapon more closely. The barrel was long and hexagonal, dark metal, and the flat surfaces seemed to be covered in minute etchings which she couldn’t decipher. It had a bright coppery piece underneath the hammer which was cocked back, and there was a trigger, but beyond that Angela couldn’t guess. Weapons had never exactly been her specialty.

 

“Just… point and shoot, is it?” Angela raised an eyebrow to Lena. She didn’t intend to use the thing, but it was better to know, at least.

 

“Yeah,” Lena replied, slightly breathless. “Nothin’ easier, love. Plain and simple.”

 

“...and...how do we reload it?” Angela glanced over at Fareeha’s gently-snoring form. She wasn’t wearing a belt with spare bullets or anything like that, and Angela couldn’t even guess what the weapon was loaded with.

 

After being told that ghosts were real and she was here because of fate, she wouldn’t be surprised to find out the thing shot crystals condensed out of unicorn tears. Or maybe Honey Nut Cheerios.

 

“Oh, don’tcha worry ‘bout that, love. No problem at all.” Lena laughed. Her accent was thicker, and she sounded nervous, but she offered Angela a weak smile, regardless.

 

“And why shouldn’t I worry?”

 

Lena’s smile wavered, fell for a second, and then took its place again. “If the first shot doesn’t get it? We won’t have time to reload.”

 

Angela’s heart thumped heavier behind her chest as something shook at the door, and her eyes dropped to Lena knuckles gripping white around the gun.

 

Things were getting worse, Fareeha had said, and it didn’t seem like they would be getting better any time soon.

 

For now, she just pulled her feet up onto the couch and huddled in closer to the other two, Fareeha snoring gently in the middle and Lena on the other side of her with that gun held outstretched. Angela’s gaze flickered around the room just like the fire’s shadows had earlier, and she couldn’t help but wish that she was still in that clearing where they’d sat and talked by the campfire.

 

Then Fareeha muttered in her sleep and shifted, and wrapped an arm loosely around Angela, and she felt a little safer for that. Safer for the others who were here. They had a plan, at least. It was something.

 

Angela reached over and laid a hand on Lena’s shoulder. “We’ll make it to the morning,” she whispered. “We’ll be fine.”

 

“Yeah,” Lena whispered back with half a laugh and a quick grin. “Just like I said, love. Slumber party. Just-” she flinched as a noise came from one window, sounding like a rock, but Lena continued anyway. “Just you watch, pretty soon we’ll be playing Truth or Dare and telling scary stories.”

 

Angela managed a weak laugh, still looking around but less frantically now. “Maybe we’ll pass on that second part.”

 

The two of them giggled, and it didn’t make everything better, but it did help a little bit. They were there together, at least, and so far nothing had even really _happened._ Some rattling of windows and some noises, but nothing worse.

 

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.


	3. The Creature

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has gore so please keep that in mind. If horror isn't your thing, I'd turn back now.

Angela woke up on an empty couch. Cold air brushed along her skin, prickling her skin with breaths of unease. She pushed off the worn cushion, hyper aware of the ruffling between her clothing and the couch being the only sound carrying along the thick fog that saturated the room. Puffs of clouded air left her lips as she navigated her way out. She needed to find Fareeha and Lena.

The heavy oak door hung loose on a single hinge. Salt lied scattered before the entrance, a clear disturbance having swept it away. What happened?

Stepping past the unhinged door, Angela pressed on into the deep fog. It covered the park like smoke. She couldn’t see farther then an arm’s reach away. “Lena? Fareeha?” Her voice refused to reach, traveling a breath’s distance before dissipating within the clouded air.

Something disturbed the dead grass in front of Angela. She took a step back, nearly falling over herself as the sound progressed towards her.  Angela backtracked to try and take refuge back inside the ranger’s station. She found nothing but thick air.

The sound circled around Angela. Erratic footsteps changed their pace, switching between a slow stalk and hurried chasing behind the curtain of fog. The hair at her nape tingled with waves of electric unease. Whatever it was that tracked her stood right behind Angela.

An inhale of breath sounded beside Angela’s ear, rooting her to the spot. She stood there and clenched her fingers. Maybe if she wished hard enough it would leave her alone.

And maybe that was all it took because her nerves quieted down after a few agonizing seconds, letting her know she stood alone.

Her legs found the will to move, taking her forward, deeper into the unknown mist. She found drops of blood leading off into a trail. As she followed the red-dotted path, the fog thinned until she came along a forest of dead trees. Rushing water sounded beyond the sea of brittle branches and rotted wood. Angela followed it, taking any sign as one step closer to finding her missing coworkers.

A river flowed beyond the trees. Its watery depths sat calm between the banks, not a single ripple in sight. Angela stepped to its edge stunned at the prevailing silence surrounding her. Did it suddenly stop at her arrival? Or had she been hearing imagined sounds in her fearful state?

Angela’s fingers twitched and she clenched her teeth together as that electric chill ran up her right side. Something stood beside her, the feeling intensifying as it felt like it reached for her. Then it vanished.

Angela snapped her head to the right and a sudden paralysis enveloped her body as she saw a figure standing a few meters down the riverbank. It stood still, fingertips barely hovering above the ground from its elongated arms. A blinding set of eyes stared back at her. They flickered as it blinked.

The figure stepped into the water, disappearing within its depths. Angela’s heart stopped as it reemerged from the water two seconds later, standing on the other bank about a hundred meters down the river. It turned around to regard Angela with an unblinking stare. She took a step back, looking down to her feet as she almost tripped on a tree root. In the split second it took for her to peer back up, the figure was gone.

Despite her fear, curiosity got the best of Angela. She stepped as close as she could to the river and gazed into the water. Under the light of a near-full moon, confusion wracked her thoughts at the lack of reflection along the water’s surface. She leaned forward a fraction to get a new angle. Angela didn’t have time to scream as a hand on her back pushed her into the water.

Her body sank below the water. No matter her attempts to swim upwards, it was as if her body was made of stone, taking her further into the impossibly deep water. Bubbles of escaped breath floated above Angela as she found herself glimpsing into a drowned forest. Much like the one she encountered before stumbling upon the silent river, she saw beneath the water was void of life. Dead leaves shook with an ominous wind. It sounded like a quiet scream.

Angela saw a clearing in the middle of the underwater forest. It gave way to a cabin sitting on barren earth. One of its windows lit up. Water entered her lungs when someone grabbed her. The sudden touch shocked her out of her reverie of awe, making her swallow mouthfuls of water. Angela coughed when she surfaced. She spun around in her coughing fit and felt a semblance of relief at the familiar face. Fareeha held onto her arm firmly, worried eyes looking her over.

They swam to the riverbank and Angela pulled herself to dry land. She shivered as a single chill of wind passed through her. “Did you see that?” Angela held herself as her teeth chattered, waiting patiently for any confirmation on what she saw.

Fareeha stared down the river as she shook her head no. “Lena’s still missing.” She picked up a hollow stick and tossed it into the water. “I was hoping she’d be with you.”

Angela froze, her shivering pausing as Fareeha’s words sank in. Was it that creature she saw? “I saw something go into the river. It came out further down the water in seconds. Do you think…” She couldn’t finish the thought.

Fareeha forced her attention away from the river and regarded Angela with furrowed brows. “If it did take her, we need to find her fast.” She stood up in a hurry, helping Angela to her feet in a matter of seconds.

The cold seeping into her bones didn’t bother Angela anymore. She was focused. Lena’s safety came first. “Has this happened before?” she asked as they navigated through the forest.

Pausing at the question, Fareeha tapped her watch, drumming her fingers along it with a lost expression. “I’m not sure.

* * *

It became clear that they were in some place in-between from the prevailing quiet. Despite the fact that Angela and Fareeha ran through the forest, desperately trying to find Lena, the sounds of crunching leaves and cracking sticks were but a whisper to their ears.

They stumbled across a path with a natural fence of trees bordering the sandy trail. The path led them to a wooden walkway. As they walked along it, they saw that they were standing on a dock overlooking a lake. A boat floated calmly on the water’s surface, securely tied to a wooden beam. Fareeha headed towards it. When Fareeha reached it, she tested its buoyancy with a few hardy kicks.

Angela peered over the railing into the water as Fareeha tested the boat. Glowing orbs illuminated the lake’s bottom. She stepped back, fear taking over her expression when she realized that they were blinking, just like the creature she saw. Angela made her way to Fareeha, feeling a modicum of safety wash over her in the other woman’s presence. As Fareeha untied the boat, Angela spotted something on the other side of the lake. She recognized it as the cabin she saw in the river.

“Over there. I saw that cabin under the water.” Angela pointed to the building for Fareeha to see.

“Then that’s where we’re going.” Fareeha stepped into the boat and helped Angela get on as well.

As soon as Angela sat down, Fareeha got to work rowing the boat. “What part of the park is this?” Since she was still rather new to the park, Angela wasn’t 100% familiar with important landmarks and such. She knew a few but still got confused with the names.

“It’s not.”

A shiver ran up Angela’s spine. “How are we supposed to get out of here?”

“Wait until sunrise. If that doesn’t work then…” Fareeha closed her mouth and focused on rowing.

“Then what?”

“We’re fucked.”

They rowed in silence as Angela digested the information. This wasn’t like the situation in the forest with Fareeha earlier. Fareeha knew how to get back to the ranger’s station through that maze of trees. This was a whole new arena and Angela realized that Fareeha was just as lost as her. They really were fucked.

The closer they got to shore the more Angela heard a faint whispering floating above the water’s surface. The boat shook each time she heard the whispers. Chancing a glance at the water, Angela saw nothing but darkness. Until she looked near the boat. A thousand pairs of blindingly bright eyes looked up at her. Tiny, black hands broke the water’s surface and tapped the boat. Angela shot her hand out and squeezed her thigh. Trim nails left crescent divots on her skin as she pressed her fingers harder to try to calm down.

As soon as they reached shore, Angela rushed out of the boat first. She hurried down the trail leading to the cabin. She wanted to put distance between herself and whatever those things in the water were. Angela stopped when she heard something coming from the trees. She eyed the dark forest, wary of what hid inside. When she found nothing, she focused her attention back on the trail. The path to the cabin was longer now.

“Angela don’t get too far ahead, it’s easy to get separated here.”

Staying put, Angela waited for Fareeha to catch up. She kept her gaze on the cabin, convinced that if she looked away the path would grow longer still. It didn’t last long as another whisper grabbed her attention. Her name. Angela spun around at the sound, finding Fareeha nowhere in sight. She yelped as something grabbed the back of her shirt. The cabin faded further away as she was dragged into the forest.

And then everything turned to black.

* * *

Angela woke up from the pain of rocks and twigs clawing her back. Something still dragged her. It pulled her by her shoulder with a strong grip pressing into her skin. Its skin felt unnatural. Craning her head up, immeasurable fear struck Angela at the sight. The same creature from before with those low-hanging arms. At the close vicinity, she saw blood dripping from its exposed body. Patches of skin stretched across bits of its body, precise shapes fitting together in odd places. A flayed creature, barely any flesh on its form. She wanted to vomit.

A door opened. Angela recognized that they were at the cabin. She winced as the creature threw her across the room. Angela tried to move, to get away from that place. But she couldn’t move. Her body lied paralyzed on the cold floor, vulnerable to the creature’s whims.

Fear-laced eyes widened when Angela recognized Lena on the other side of the room. Two dark figures held her down. Children, they looked like children by their short stature. They smiled down at Lena, regarding her with those same bright, white eyes.

The creature bent down by Lena and reached for her face with a bloodied hand. It balanced itself with one hand on the ground as it examined Lena. In the moonlight filtering through the windows, Angela could make out that the creature had different strips of skin weaved together. Differing skin tones covered the hand supporting it on the ground. There were no fingernails to speak of.

Lena was awake. She stared helplessly at Angela, most likely unable to speak as her mouth moved but no words came. A claw grew from the creature’s skin deprived hand. It pressed the claw to Lena’s cheek, piercing the skin. Silent screams escaped from Lena’s mouth as it carved out a precise pattern from her face. It held up the piece of skin, inspecting it.

Pure terror filled Angela’s veins. The creature opened its mouth wide and dropped its head back, hovering the skin above it like some sort of prize. It lowered the piece of flesh and bit into it with the tip of its teeth. The test bite seemed to satisfy it.  The creature dropped the rest of the skin, sucking it into its mouth in one motion.

It chewed slowly, bringing its head back up with each movement of its jaw. By now, Lena had passed out so bright eyes focused on Angela as it continued to consume the flesh. With the last swallow, the same pattern of skin emerged onto its face, interlocking with a previous patch of skin. That’s when Angela realized that the creature was never flayed to begin with.

Angela felt her stomach drop as it reached for Lena again, this time touching her arm. “Stop it!” Tears spilled down her cheeks as her body tried to relieve a fraction of the stress.

The creature paused. It turned its head, bones cracking as it focused on Angela once more. It dropped its jaw, letting it hang open as it stared.

Then it spoke.

“ **St** o **p** it.” Its teeth chattered as it mimicked Angela’s words. The voice was inhuman, sounding like a dog trying to speak. Fear pulsed in her blood at the horrid sound. “S **top** i **t**.” It spoke again, making Angela close her tear-filled eyes.

Cold air brushed against her skin. Angela opened her eyes when the feeling persisted. She regretted it. The creature was right in front of her, jaw hanging open in a twisted smile. It was mocking her.

“Stop it.” The voice came out smooth, like the other attempts were some sort of sick game.

She heard laughter. Angela flitted her eyes back to Lena. The child-like figures stood above Lena’s body, hands pressed against their mouths as they giggled. The creature grabbed back her attention by pressing its patchwork hand against her face. She screamed.

The door slammed open, heavy boots crossing the floor. A gun went off and the creature let go of her face as it fell over backward. The giggling figures quieted and closed their eyes. Stepping away from Lena, they moved into the shadows, disappearing from the cabin.

Fareeha was by Angela’s side in an instant, pulling Angela by the hand to sit her up against the wall. “Are you okay?”

Angela pointed her chin to Lena. “She needs help.” Renewed tears spilled down her cheek as relief flooded her system.

As Fareeha stepped over to Lena, the creature’s body twitched. It rolled onto its stomach and lifted its torso off the ground. It focused on Fareeha, jaw dropping low again as it screamed. “Sto **p it**.” Its head snapped back and it continued to scream at the cobweb covered ceiling. “ **St** opi **tsto** pitsto **pits** top **it** stop **its** topi **t**.”

Fareeha reached into her thigh pouch and pulled out a crystal. Angela recognized it as one of the many Fareeha kept in her office. She loaded it into the gun and shot the creature again. It went silent and fell over again, hitting its head against the floor.

Fareeha stooped down and picked up Lena. She propped the unconscious woman against her shoulder and turned to Angela. “Can you move?”

Angela tried to raise even her pinky but she couldn’t. Whatever that thing did to her still kept her paralyzed. “No.”

“Damn.” Fareeha stood up with Lena and tried to make it over to Angela.

The creature twitched again and dug its fingers into the floorboards. Streams of blood spilled from its gaping mouth as it groaned. It stood next to Fareeha in the next moment, hunched over with a giant smile on its face.

It felt like time stood still as Angela took a deep, worried breath. She stared at Fareeha, totally in awe at the tranquility she radiated. She stared that thing in the face, not a shred of fear coloring her eyes.

Fareeha whispered something under her breath and the iris of her tattooed eye lit up in a soft golden glow. She pressed her palm to the creatures scraped together chest and uttered a single word that reverberated a quiet calm. “Go.”

It stood still. Unblinking eyes stared at Lena’s unconscious form. The patchwork hand reached up to its cheek, feeling over the newest addition. It twisted its head around to regard Angela. Its sick smile dropped into a frown as it reached up with a long arm to touch its chest. It backed up with jerky movements, nearly tripping over itself. It took a moment to straighten up to its full height before walking down the hallway, further into the cabin, disappearing into blackness.

Fareeha adjusted Lena against her side and walked them over to Angela. “We’ll be okay for now.” A promise.

Angela nodded. “What was that?” Was that thing one of the creatures Fareeha was talking about? One terrifying monster among many?

“I’m not sure. I’ve never seen anything like it before.” Fareeha eyed the hallway the creature disappeared into. Her brows were furrowed in contemplation, like she was trying to recall something.

As Fareeha focused back on Angela, sunlight began to shine through the windows. Angela blinked and panicked a bit when she saw their surroundings. There were back in the forest, just a little ways from the ranger’s station. It seemed impossible with everything she experienced to find Lena. Fareeha didn’t seem fazed in the slightest.

“Are you okay to walk?” Fareeha offered Angela her hand, the best she could do since she still had in her in her hold.

Angela took Fareeha’s hand and was pulled onto her feet. She took a step, suddenly free of the paralysis effect. “Yes.”

Fareeha sighed in relief. “Good, we need to get Lena treated right away.” She bent over and scooped Lena into her arms, holding her bridal style. She regarded the unconscious woman with a sad smile. “We’ll get first aid set up in the ranger’s office and then send her to the hospital.”

Angela nodded. She walked in front of Fareeha and held the busted door open for her once they reached the office. Fareed put Lena on the couch and Angela set about administering first aid.

Just as Angela finished covering the cleaned wound, Fareeha had ended her call with emergency services. “What are we going to tell the police about this?”

Fareeha took a seat in a chair next to Lena and sighed. “We tell them that we found her like that. The rest is up to Lena when she comes to.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey cool thing happened! I was copying the text from my word document and I copied the whole text. The first time I tried to paste it only two words got pasted. They said: Stop it.
> 
> Hope you guys got a good spook!


	4. The Investigation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The police arrive to investigate the attacks within the park.

There was something comforting about addressing the EMTs. The comfort of stepping into a familiar routine kept Angela’s shrieking memories at bay. Identify the problem. Answer the question. Discuss treatment options. Lie about the monster.

 

Easy.

 

Eventually the ambulance pulled away, taking Lena with it. Angela was forced to confront the fact that she hadn’t slept well in days. “I need a nap or some coffee,” she sighed.

 

Fareeha stood back against the wall of the ranger station. The EMTs hadn’t questioned the faulty door, but it would need to be fixed before the police arrived. “We should be safe during the day. Get some rest.”

 

Angela didn’t bother pointing out that the first victim she’d treated had been caught out during the day. She glanced toward the treeline, watching the fog retreat back into the forest. The mist felt like a traitor. It was working with the monsters and only dissipated when they weren’t there to bother them.

 

She rubbed at her eyes. She was thinking nonsense. She knew that fog in the morning was a natural phenomenon and had nothing to do with the presence or absence of monsters. Anyway, the sun was out now so she should've had no trouble sleeping.

 

She started toward her cabin, but then retreated to grab a box of salt on the way. One couldn’t be too careful.

 

Once every opening in Angela’s cabin was lined with salt she laid down to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes images of the monster hovered over her. Every cool breeze was accompanied by the reminder of its breath. Every rustling branch was it sneaking up to her tiny home.

 

She gave up. Coffee was as good as sleep.

  


 

* * *

 

 

 

Angela was stooped over her desk when the police arrived. It had been several days since they were attacked and despite the almost eerie quiet of the camp she’d managed almost no sleep.

 

The other rangers were sobered by Lena’s absence. Even the news that she was stable and recovering didn’t bring back their morale. They knew that any one of them could be next.

 

The sound of tires on loosely packed dirt piqued Angela’s attention enough to lift her head. The last thing she felt like doing was talking to the police. That wouldn’t stop them from having questions.

 

She dragged herself from the chair and shuffled outside. Fareeha was already there, greeting the officers with a solemn but professional demeanor.

 

The other rangers stood in doorways or looked through windows. This investigation could cost all of them their jobs.

 

“You’ll need an escort in the woods,” Fareeha was saying when Angela got close enough to hear.

 

“Ma’am this is police business.”

 

“I understand that, but the park is too large to send you out without a guide and my rangers know how to avoid animal attacks.”

 

Angela could tell that she was on edge. It stood out in the stark tension in her shoulders and the way her jaw clenched as she fell silent.

 

The officers relented.

 

Fareeha looked like she was going to fall over where she stood, but she put on her large, dark sunglasses. They covered the bags under her eyes but not the weariness or her posture.

 

“I can show them around.” Lucio practically skated up to her elbow, offering his signature smile.

 

“No, I should-” Fareeha began.

 

Angela knew that she needed to interject. Fareeha had been busy with repairs and managing the other rangers. She’d probably gotten less sleep than anyone this week. How many nights did she go monster hunting?

 

“You should try to sleep.”  Fareeha looked up sharply. Angela crossed her arms over her chest. “Doctor’s orders.”

 

The smirk that played across Fareeha’s lips did a strange thing to Angela’s chest, but she held her firm expression.

 

“I can’t argue with that.” She tipped the brim of her hat. “Thank you Lucio. Show these men back when they’re done investigating.”

 

She turned to go back to her cabin.

 

Lucio stepped forward with a dazzling grin. “Welcome to the park. Alright, alright, let’s move it people!”

 

“I’m coming too.” Angela approached more hesitantly than Lucio. The officers turned to look at her. “I am one of the physicians on staff. I treated the man who was attacked. I would be pleased to answer any questions you might have for me.”

 

The officers mumbled their agreement. They didn’t seem to know how to handle Lucio’s chipper attitude. Angela was just grateful they weren’t already asking questions.

 

“Angela! Good to have you.” Lucio chirped.

 

He set out with a bounce in his step. It was easy to see why he so often catered to the children here.

 

Angela walked toward the back of the group so she could be ignored. She felt obligated to involve herself, but she was too exhausted to do any more than the bare minimum.

 

“You want to make some noise while you’re going through the woods,” Lucio was explaining from the front of the group, “it lets the wildlife know you’re coming. I like to play music and sing along.”

 

He pulled out his phone and switched on something electronic that Angela didn’t care for. Maybe she was just too tired to really appreciate it. It just sounded like noise.

 

Lucio led the officers on a roundabout route toward where the body had been discovered. He made a show of how safe the woods were and even Angela cracked a smile when he ran up the side of a tree to do a backflip. She didn’t know that those antics would help the officers at all, but they did lighten the mood.

 

A lighter mood was just what she needed. She found herself jumping at every little sound since going into the other realm for Lena. She couldn’t sleep. The last time she’d slept she’d woken up to…

 

“So this is where it happened?”

 

The voice was directed at her and Angela focused her attention back to the officer to nod. “Yes. This is the right area. The wounds didn’t look like they were caused by an animal.”

 

“We suspect that someone may be hiding in these woods,” another officer joined in.

 

“It’s a common evasion tactic. They probably have a criminal history,” the first agreed, “they won’t evade us for long.”

 

Angela forced a weary smile. The story sounded like a bad horror film. She would have welcomed that reality rather than the truth. At this point she’d prefer an escaped convict with a hook hand.

 

“You think they’re still out here?” Lucio piped up.

 

“Hard to say,” the officer replied. “If they attacked someone then they might have moved on, but it is a big park.”

 

They searched the forest floor but none of them found anything worth talking about. None of them took out evidence bags. Angela suspected that they weren’t used to investigating in the woods. Several of them complained about the bugs. By the time they finished with the scene most of them were grumbling about getting back inside.

 

“Let me take you to my favorite spot,” Lucio suggested.

 

“I think we’ve seen enough for now,” the officer in charge replied.

 

Angela appreciated that Lucio wanted to show them a softer side of the park. He wanted to keep his job as much as the rest of them. She agreed with the officer, though, it was time to turn in for now.

 

Lucio hummed his agreement, but he still led them on a winding path back toward the camp.

 

Angela found herself curious as to when the investigation would actually be closed. “What will be the next course of action?”

 

The officer grunted in response. “We’ll do a sweep of the woods. Bring out the dogs. Helicopters. If they’re here we’ll find them.”

 

“That sounds like quite the project.”

 

“Just need to chief to sign off on it. It should only take a couple of days. We can’t let them get far.”

 

It didn’t seem like they knew about Lena. Angela wasn’t inclined to inform them. It would only draw this out. “We appreciate your dedication to this. We are all eager to have the park back in operation.”

 

The officer grunted his agreement.

 

Angela was eager to have the officers gone. She couldn’t say that. It was better to have them conclude their investigation and find nothing. It was better for them to believe that this was a person who got away with their attack.

 

No one needed to see what she had seen.

 

“What was that?” One of the officers turned toward the forest. Angela followed their gaze and Lucio turned to look back at the group.

 

She saw it. A large shape moved through the trees. It was still a few hundred feet away, but she could tell that it had seen them. It was walking alongside them.

 

Lucio frowned and came over. “Looks like a bear.” he turned to the officers. As he spoke his hands turned up the music they’d been listening to.  “Listen!” His voice held authority that Angela had never before heard him use. “Bears don’t usually want to fight. We have to look big and make a lot of noise while we go. Keep an eye on it. Everything will be fine.”

 

He lifted his hands and turned back to the bear as he began to shout. The officers looked uncertainly at one another, but Angela followed suit and soon they did too.

 

They shouted nonsensical things and commands for the bear to leave. The shadow came closer still. The outline of its large muscled shoulders stood out in black against the shadowed forest.

 

“Go! Leave us alone, bear!” Angela’s words went unheeded.

 

Lucio led the group, but kept his eyes on the forest. When it became clear that the creature wasn’t getting scared off by their yelling he put himself between the beast and the people they were escorting. “Just keep going. We’re almost back at camp.”

 

Angela felt a worried lump in her throat. They were all armed so they would be safe. She still didn’t want to see an innocent creature killed. She’d seen too much suffering here already.

 

Lucio reached for his bear spray. His music continued. The song that they walked to was electronic and driving. Angela didn’t much care for it but it was inoffensive and neutral.

 

She heard the creature grumble over it.

 

“Get back!” Lucio shouted. The animal was closer now. Angela lost sight of it among the bushes that clustered at the side of the trail. She knew that is must still be there. She could hear them rustling.

 

Lucio ushered the police back away from the bushes. He kept himself between them and the bear as he readied the spray. “It must be feeling territorial,” he reasoned. “Don’t worry. This will stun it and then we can leave.”

 

Angela felt her chest tighten. Her body didn’t want to breathe. She’d never seen a bear in nature. They were imposing enough behind the glass at zoos. Now she stood the chance of being attacked by one. It shouldn’t have frightened her after the past several weeks but it did.

 

Lucio did a test spray toward the ground. The wind blew the mix of spices away from him. He’d be safe to fire when the bear appeared.

 

The rustling grew stronger. The branches of the bushes parted and a large brown head forced its way through. Shoulders followed and even only halfway onto the path it was already larger than any of them.

 

There was something odd about the face. From this close Angela could see the individual hairs of the bear’s face. She could see how its nose glistened. It was something around the mouth. It bulged strangely. Was it infected? A disease could explain the odd behavior.

 

The bears eyes had been closed as it came through the bushes. It blinked them open. Then it blinked the rest of them open.

 

That wasn’t right.

 

Angela starred in horror. It looked like a bear but it had four sets of eyes like a spider.

 

“That’s not a bear!” One of the officers shrieked.

 

Two of them reached for their guns but Lucio was faster. He sprayed his bear repellent wildly to hit the bear’s entire face. It shrieked in pain, the sound coming out half way between a roar and a chitter.

 

It reared back. The mouth opened to unfurl mandibles that flailed wildly as it screamed. Angela didn’t notice that she was screaming too.

 

“Let’s move it people!” Lucio called. He turned to sprint down the trail. The officers hesitated but followed rather than engaging the creature.

 

The rhythm of the music kept their feet moving. Their footfalls beat along the path erratically but were somehow held together by the music. As they grew tired their strides matched the rhythm more. Angela’s lungs burned but she fixated on the sound and forced her legs to keep moving.

 

They left the monster behind. Its anguished cries shook the forest for another minute but then stopped. The group kept running. They couldn’t trust that the creature wasn’t still after them and who knew if there were other things lurking in the woods. All of them were ready to be back behind the safety of sturdy walls.

 

When they arrived at camp the rangers gathered. Someone ran off to wake Fareeha while Angela the others gasped for air.

 

The officers warned everyone to get inside. Angela and Lucio seconded the opinion, leading people back into buildings. They stayed in the common area and Angela sat on the couch she’d fallen asleep on days ago. She watched the front door and considered how grateful she was that Fareeha got another put on so quickly. She hoped that bear spiders couldn’t claw through wooden walls.

 

The officers piled back into their cars once they were assured that Angela and Lucio would debrief the others. They were here to investigate a person, not animals. Angela hoped that this encounter wouldn’t change that.

 

When asked Angela assured the other rangers that they’d seen a rabid bear. Lucio didn’t confirm or deny her claims, but he stayed with her when she asked to speak to Fareeha.

 

She arrived a few minutes later. Her eyes were still heavy from sleep, but her hair and uniform were pristine. She’d rolled up her sleeves which highlighted her muscular forearms, adorned only with a simple silver watch.

 

It must have been her exhaustion that made Angela fixate on the sight. She was still feeling short of breath. It was easier to fixate on one thing than to think about everything at once.

 

“What happened?” Fareeha demanded. Worry was threaded through her tone. “Are you two alright?”

 

Lucio shook his head. “There’s something out there. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t normal.” He was less calm than he’d been on the trail. Now that he didn’t need to lead he’d begun to unravel.

 

Angela frowned. She’d need to give him a check-up after this. He’d handled himself well in the face of the unknown, but everyone had their limits. Had Fareeha told him anything about the forest? Would she now that he’d been exposed?

 

Fareeha’s brows drew together and she crossed her arms over her chest. The stance was powerful. She looked authoritative and something about her posture made Angela feel safer. “A creature?” She repeated. Her dark eyes went to Angela. “Was it the one from before?”

 

Her voice was full of meaning but it wasn’t necessary. Despite her best efforts, Angela was unable to forget the monster they’d faced. It had hurt Lena physically and had taken something else entirely from her.

 

Angela sighed and shook her head. “No.” Blonde strands of hair fell into her face. She brushed them aside before looking up to Fareeha again. “This was something else.”


End file.
